Secret
by assassinactual
Summary: The day after prom, it occurred to Quinn that there was no way Finn could have chosen that corsage himself.  For Faberry Week Days 5 and 6.
1. Chapter 1

The corsage was beautiful. Quinn lightly touched the silk petals of the artificial flower that was tied to her wrist. The ribbon even matched her eyes.

"You ready to go?" Finn asked. She nodded to him, and he offered her his hand to pull her up from her seat on the stairs. Maybe he was starting to take this relationship seriously.

* * *

><p>The day after prom, Quinn was sitting at her desk finishing up her English homework, when she happened to glance at the corsage she had left there the night before. It occurred to her that there was no way Finn could have chosen that color of ribbon by himself. Even he wasn't that lucky. And the last time Quinn had asked him what color her eyes were, his response was '<em>Umm…brown? Ish?<em>'

But who knew her well enough to match something to her eye color from memory, and would be willing to help Finn? Sam, or Puck, maybe. But she doubted they talked about things like that. Santana would have sabotaged him. Mercedes, maybe. She didn't really talked to Finn, though.

Rachel. Rachel talked to Finn. She was also the sort of person who notices little things, like the exact color of her friends' eyes.

She stared at the ribbon for some time before something clicked in her mind. The scarf. Rachel had given her a scarf for Christmas that almost exactly matched the shade of the ribbon. It had been way over the twenty dollar Secret Santa limit, too. Quinn knew because she had considered buying the same scarf for herself.

The corsage would definitely fit the pattern of oddly intuitive gift choices from Rachel.

But why would Rachel help Finn impress his girlfriend? Wasn't she still in love with him? Maybe she had given up on that. Maybe she was serious about making their friendship work. Their talk in the bathroom certainly made that a possibility.

She decided not to say anything to Finn about Rachel's assistance. They had enough problems for now.

* * *

><p>One night, a few weeks into summer, Quinn watched a movie that Santana had leant her. The movie had made mention of meanings ascribed to certain flowers, and that had led Quinn to a website with a long list of flowers and what you could say with them. She was idly scrolling through the list when something caught her eye.<p>

_Gardenia – you're lovely, purity, grace, secret love_

Quinn froze. She just sat there for several minutes and stared at the last two words. _Secret love._ Did Rachel secretly love her?

Suddenly an image of Rachel tying the flower onto Quinn's wrist herself, instead of Finn. Rachel dancing with her at prom. Rachel throwing her onto the bed and—.

Maybe she had been watching too many of Santana's movies. That must have been the source of those thoughts. Surely Rachel had meant for the flower to convey one of the other meanings. Those we're things friends could say, right? Maybe Rachel wasn't even aware of the meaning. And wasn't it supposed to be from Finn, anyway?

She shook her head to clear out all the stray thoughts. Maybe it would be best to forget about this.

She put the corsage safely back in its box, then hid it far at the back of her closet.

Much later, when she was almost asleep, Quinn recalled something she had once heard Rachel say.

'_I'm very specific when I gift.'_


	2. Chapter 2

Rachel was on the front steps of the Fabray house, balancing a takeout container full of soup and a large bag from the local drug store while attempting to ring the doorbell. She managed to hit it, and a few moments later, a bewildered looking Judy Fabray answered the door.

"Hi, I'm Rachel Berry. I'm a friend of Quinn's from glee club. I was talking to her on the phone and she mentioned that she wasn't feeling well and that you would be leaving for the weekend and she would be by herself, so I decided to come over to keep her company. I brought every natural cold remedy I could find. And soup."

The bewildered look stayed on Judy's face while she tried to process what Rachel had said.

"She really wasn't exaggerating," Judy said under her breath.

"What?"

"Nothing. Oh! Where are my manners? Come on in." She was ushered inside, and Judy took the soup and the pharmacy bag. Once Rachel had her coat and shoes off, Judy gestured for her to follow, and the headed into the kitchen.

"Quinn's told me a lot about you. She said you have a lovely voice," Judy said while she poured some of the soup into a bowl.

"Really? She said that?" Rachel asked excitedly.

"Well, she might have been a bit more descriptive, but that was the general idea I got. She talks about you all the time." Rachel was almost certain she imagined Judy winking at her when she said that.

"She does?"

"Oh yes. Always going on about you. It's always Rachel this, Rachel that. When she quit your club at the start of the year, she complained for days about how she couldn't hear you sing anymore. She thinks very highly of you." Rachel was sure her face would actually split in half if she smiled any wider. Judy handed Rachel a tray with the soup bowl on it. "Here you go dear, take that up to Quinn. It's the first door on the left. I'm sorry, but I really need to be leaving now." She breezed out of the kitchen, then stuck her head back around the corner. "Thank you for looking after her, Rachel. I really couldn't avoid this trip. We'll have to have you over for dinner when Quinn is feeling better. I like to meet all of her friends." Rachel was so happy at the dinner invitation, she failed to notice the odd emphasis on the word friends.

A few minutes later, she was kicking lightly on Quinn's door. Both her hands were occupied carrying the tray. The door hadn't been fully shut, so it swung open.

"Quinn? I brought you chicken noodle soup." She leaned through the frame, trying to see into the dark room.

"Rach, what… come in, don't just stand there." She stepped into the room.

Quinn turned on her reading lamp. She was sitting up in her bed. There were dark circles under her eyes and her face was pale. Her hair sticking up wildly.

"Rachel, what are you doing here?" she croaked. Rachel passed her a glass of water, which she drank greedily.

"I'm here to take care of you. I can't leave you alone when you're like this." She set the tray over Quinn's lap and put the spoon in her hand.

"Rach, I'll be fine. I don't want you to get sick."

"You aren't contagious anymore. Trust me, if you were, I would have taken precautions. As for being fine, can you even get out of bed?" Quinn looked she was going to try. Rachel pushed her back. "That wasn't a suggestion. Now eat." Quinn sighed, resigned to the fact that she would be in Rachel's care for some time. It wasn't like she really had a choice in the matter.

When she was done with the soup, Rachel took the tray downstairs, and returned with some herbal tea for Quinn.

After a brief fight over the movie choice, they were sitting side by side on the bed, watching The Lion King on Quinn's laptop. As the movie progressed, they moved closer and closer together. When the credits rolled, they were squeezed together, and neither wanted to move.

"Quinn, you're falling asleep, you have to lay down properly."

"Mhm. Don' wanna. Warm." She clutched at her blankets and refused to move. Rachel considered just leaving her there.

"You just have to slide down like six inches. You can stay under you blanket." Quinn huffed, but she complied.

Rachel was halfway to door when Quinn called her name quietly.

"Can… can you stay?"

"Yes, Quinn. That was the idea."

"No, I mean here." She pointed at her bed. "With me." Rachel wasn't about to decline an offer to sleep in Quinn's bed.

"Okay. I just have to change." Quinn pouted. "Oh, don't be a baby, I'll be right back."

Rachel made sure to keep a good space between them, but by the time they fell asleep, they were cuddled together, with Rachel somehow being big spoon.

Rachel woke around midnight. She had been having a very vivid dream involving her and Quinn, and the bed they in. They definitely weren't sleeping though.

Rachel tried to clear her mind, but it was impossible with the girl she had been dreaming about right there in her arms.

She got up, careful not to wake Quinn as she did so. She wandered over to the window and pulled back the curtain. It had snowed while they were sleeping, the first snowfall of the winter. The full moon reflected off the new snow, lighting up everything in sight.

She was closing the curtain when noticed something sitting on Quinn's desk illuminated by the moonlight.

A flower. Even in the bright moonlight, it was difficult to see, but Rachel knew exactly what it was. A gardenia, with a green ribbon wrapped around it. She picked it up.

"I know it was you." Rachel almost threw the flower when she heard the voice behind her. She turned around. Quinn was sitting upright in bed, and seemed to be watching Rachel.

"What?" Rachel knew exactly what Quinn meant.

"The corsage. I know you picked it out, not Finn."

"Do you know what it means?" Rachel asked.

"Yes."

Rachel wondered how Quinn could be so calm about this.

"And… you kept it?"

Quinn nodded, while nervously chewing her bottom lip.

"But… why? Why would you keep it?"

"Why did you give it to me?" Quinn asked rhetorically.

"You…?" Rachel couldn't even finish the question. She was too afraid the answer would be no.

"Yes." Quinn chuckled a little. "Now come back to bed, I'm getting cold." Rachel didn't move. "Rach, we can talk about it the morning, 'kay? I'm really tired."

"Okay. In the morning." Rachel climbed back into bed and resumed her position as the big spoon. The both fell asleep quickly, with contented smiles on their faces.


End file.
